200
Memorandum, on an examination of the Hongkong Opium
Farmer's books in May, 1908,“ shows that on the average
Indian Opium loses 0.4913 taels per tael in preparation,
whereas native opium loses on 0.3639 taels per tael: and it
may be stated as a broad principle that the coarser the
quality of the Raw Opium the less it will lose in prepara-
-tion.
5.
Finally with regard to the third
:
point taken by the Consul-General I would point out that
by regulation 9 all dealers in prepared and raw opium are
required to take out a licence from the Kwong Yun Firm. It
is clear therefore that the control of the Opium Trade is
vested in the Kwong Yun Office, a Firm of Opium Merchants,
and that only that firm itself and its licensees can deal
in Raw or Prepared Opium in the Kuangtung Province. I sub-
-mit that this is in effect to give a monopoly to the Kwong
Yun Firm.
6.
With reference to the passage in
Mr. Hewett's letter of the 14th. instant to the Secretary
of State for Foreign Affairs (sub-enclosure to enclosure
No. 1 (11) in my previous Despatch), in which he writes
that the Consul-General seemed "to be under the impression
that the Opium once boiled must be consumed immediately
and